Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
All work is copyrighted and may not be reprinted without written permission from the author, who can be contacted at www.paulspadoni.com

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Final chapter in traffic ticket story?

January 10, 2012

Hopefully today is the final installment in the saga of my Italian traffic
ticket, but I can’t be sure. I take my third trip to my bank this morning to
make the money transfer to pay my 240.27 euro fine. When I went last Friday, it
was too late in the day to make a payment, but I left the bank clerk, Sandy, a
copy of the ticket so she could fill out the paperwork.

Then I stop back Monday and Sandy faxes the transfer form to
Suzy in the bank’s main office to be checked over before sending along for
processing. I wait for nearly half an hour while Sandy makes some corrections
and re-faxes the form to Suzy and they discuss the form on the telephone. Although the ticket provides the IBAN number,
the bic/swift number and the fine-reference number, Suzy finally claims that
she can’t process a transfer in euros without also having a UK sort code.

“Can you call the police department to get that?” Sandy asks
me. No, I can’t, and I don’t want to
even think about it. First, I hate talking Italian on the telephone. Second,
there is no phone number given on the ticket. Third, if the UK sort code is
really needed, don’t you think the ticket would have included that? I mean, the
Italians send out thousands of these tickets per day, so they should know what
they are doing. IBAN transfers are a standard way of paying bills and making
deposits for travel reservations in Europe, so they know what is needed.

Because U.S. banks use a different money transfer system and
rarely do IBAN transfers, the likelihood is nearly 100 percent that my bank is
wrong about the need for a UK sort code. However, I don’t explain all this to
Sandy. I just tell her I would like her to send the transfer without a sort
code, but she says that Suzy won’t send it because it is required for sending
euros.

“How about if you send it in U.S. dollars?” I ask. That
doesn’t require the sort code, but the bank fee is $50 instead of $35. Go ahead, I
say. But the magic 2 p.m. hour is past and it is too late to send it today.

Now I am back for the final time, and Sandy informs me that
there is something wrong with the bic/swift number. Suzy has told her that the
system does not recognize the number as being valid. They can send the transfer
request, but she can’t be sure it will be accepted. In keeping with my theory
that the Italians know more about IBAN transfers than the Americans, I
authorize her to send it anyway.

So is this the end of the story? I have my doubts. A number
of things could go wrong. I have sent
the money in dollars instead of euros. Will they charge me an exchange fee?
Maybe there really is a problem with the bic/swift number I was given on the
ticket. And the final problem could be that I have missed the 60-day deadline
for the reduced price payment. The ticket reads that the offense “requires a
reduced payment, to be made within 60 days from the date of this
fine-notification.” Beyond 60 days, the fine increases from 240.27 euro to
454.27 euro.

I received the ticket in November, but I didn’t note the
exact date. I am pretty close to 60 days, but I honestly don’t know if I am over
or under. The ticket is dated Oct. 14, and the letter is postmarked Oct. 27. If
one figures one week for delivery, I have missed the deadline, but I would have
just made it if delivery took two weeks. It is not clear when the 60 days
began. Was it the date the ticket was printed, mailed or received? Since I know
that many people just ignore these tickets altogether, I am hoping that whoever
handles the payment is willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. With the
snail’s pace efficiency of the Italian bureaucracy, I know I will have to wait
six months to a year before I can write this incident off as completely
finished.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Hopefully it will just be one ticket. I never received any more notices, so I guess they accepted my payment. However, I am really paranoid about driving into Pisa, and I wouldn't even think about trying Firenze. Stop at a smaller town that has free parking near its station and take the train!

Steve, that would take cooperation between different governmental agencies--not one of Italy's strengths. It would create hassles for the customs agents without any benefits to their own agency. It's not gonna happen in our lifetimes.

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About Me

First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.